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Data centre provider NextDC is understood to have successfully raised $30 million to $40 million in an oversubscribed capital raising.

The company is in a trading halt as of yesterday, and plans to recommence trading on March 21. However, it could resume as early as today with its targets fulfilled.

The capital raising was facilitated by RBS Morgans and Moelis & Company, the same firms that launched NextDC on the Australian Securities Exchange in December.

NextDC shareholder and RBS Morgans client adviser, Simon Bond, told The Australian Financial Review the latest capital raising was a surprise to him given it only floated recently. “It surprised me that they came back to the market at this point in time,” Mr Bond said. “But something may have come up as an acquisition concern from the investor presentation.”

He said he hoped to acquire an extra 40,000 to 50,000 shares in the raising. “The management team has a superb track record and I’ve got my personal money and superannuation invested in this. I believe the data centre and tech sectors are far and away the most undervalued areas of investment in the Australian market.”

An analyst who declined to be named said the money would go towards the acquisition of a second data centre in Sydney known as “S1”, along with others in Perth, Canberra and Auckland. “It could also be for the expansion of existing sites in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne,” the analyst said. “The next step for NextDC is recycling capital and they should get to that position before needing more from the market.”

The Financial Review understands shareholders and institutional investors were the main parties involved in the raising. Expansion plans were flagged in a presentation released to the ASX earlier this week.

“They’ve expanded so rapidly because it’s being driven by demand,” the analyst said.

“Some customers in the selected cities are seeking data centre space and others are seeking space beyond and above the original expectations in Sydney.”

But a rival analyst said some in the market were sceptical about the very rapid rise of NextDC’s share price and said they didn’t expect it to provide meaningful earnings for another two years.

“I suspect they used the rising stock price as the catalyst to get more funds,” the analyst said. “There’s a little bit of the Bevan Slattery-factor as well . . . I think it’s overpriced given they’re still in cash-burning mode.”

The company was 50 per cent owned by its current chief executive and Pipe Networks founder, Bevan Slattery, going into the latest round of capital raising but it was unknown if he had invested any more of his own funds.